AP Photo/Jacquelyn MartinMarion Marechal-Le Pen, 28, speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), at National Harbor, Md., Thursday, Feb. 22, 2018. Out of the shadows, the woman who was the rising star of France's far right National Front until she left politics is emerging on the other side of the Atlantic, stepping into the limelight as a speaker at a major forum for American conservatives. Marechal-Le Pen, is a former lawmaker who disappeared from the public eye last year after aunt Marine Le Pen suffered a crushing loss in France's presidential race to Emmanuel Macron. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

At the 2017 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) last year, American Conservative Union (the organization that hosts the conference) Executive Director Dan Schneider told attendees, “CPAC, we have been slapped in the face. There is a sinister organization that is trying to worm its way in, into our ranks.”

He was warning about the white nationalist “alt-right” movement that had been on the rise over the last year.

“They are anti-Semites, they are racists, they are sexists, they hate the Constitution, they hate free markets, they hate pluralism,” Schneider explained.

“We must not allow them to be normalized,” Schneider warned.

Yet, at CPAC 2018 on Thursday, Marion Le Pen, a rising star on the French far-right, spoke.

Basically, everything CPAC attendees were supposed to fear about the alt-right last year, at least according to Schneider, is represented to one degree or another by Marion Le Pen. Full blown alt-right racists eagerly anticipated her CPAC speech. Alt-right-friendly outlets like Breitbart relished the reaction among the conservative establishment. Alt-right friendly writers like The Daily Caller’s Scott Greer defended the decision.

So, why did just one year after trying to make it perfectly clear that CPAC and the conservative movement would not be a home to the alt-right, did the conference invite a prominent figure of the European far-right, on which the alt-right movement in the U.S. primarily bases itself?

When white nationalist Richard Spencer was denied CPAC credentials last year and was even kicked out of the conference, American Conservative Union Chairman Matt Schlapp told Politico, “You are welcome to come down here, we will have civil conservation about things we disagree with but there are boundaries, one of those boundaries is having respect for people, people’s heritage, people’s race, and the alt-right is not a voice in the conservative movement.”

Defending hosting Le Pen this year, Schlapp said she was a “classical liberal,” which traditionally has been arguably a more properly descriptive label for most American conservatives and libertarians.

This is very confusing. Because in defending Le Pen, Schlapp is now basically saying that race-based political leaders deserve a spot at the biggest conservative conference in the U.S. — but “having respect” for non-white peoples’ “heritage” and “race,” to paraphrase Schlapp, is not what the Front National is about.

This confusion didn’t start with CPAC.

For example, Le Pen’s speech Thursday was innocuous enough, relatively speaking, in that much of it sounded like Donald Trump. “Just like you,” Le Pen told CPAC attendees,” we want our country back.”

But “back” from who? Political elites? Just draining the swamp, maybe? If so, sign me up as well. Most conservatives would agree.

But long time observers know that’s not what Le Pen truly means. That’s never been what the National Front means, primarily. It has always been first and foremost an anti-immigrant party. Donald Trump won in part by harping on anti-immigrant themes. CPAC this year echoes some of those same themes.